Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Clinical Treatment Research Amoung Active Duty Army Soldiers

archived

U.S. Army Soldiers are enduring unyielding high operational tempo in garrison and the combat field of operations in order to keep pace with ongoing Wartime mission requirements. The high tempo and increasingly common multiple deployments present many human physical and psychological challenges (Military Health Advisory Team IV (MHAT-IV), 2006; MHAT-V, 2008) that have a rippling effect on Soldier well-being as well as Army retention and recruitment. According to seminal work by Hoge et al. (2004), an estimated 17% of active duty Soldiers screened positive for deployment-related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) post deployment to Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom (OIF/OEF); recent estimates (MHAT V, 2008) were suggested to be within the estimated ranges. PTSD is often complicated by other behavioral health problems including depression, alcohol and other drug (AOD) use, and suicide/suicide-related behavior (e.g., Seal, Bertenthal, Miner, Sen, & Marmar, 2007). All evidence-based treatments, including cognitive-behavioral based exposure therapies (Foa, Keane, & Friedman, 2000), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy (e.g., Rothbaum, 1997; Shapiro, 2001), and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) (e.g., Brady et al., 2000), are only partially effective (Friedman, Keane, & Resick, 2007). The complicated presentation of PTSD may likely contribute to the finding that existing evidence-based treatments are up to 50% ineffective in treating PTSD symptoms.

High